In an interview with Hartford Business Journal last year, Jeff Flaks reflected on his 17 years at Hartford HealthCare and nearly two years as CEO, over which time he’s helped oversee a gradual transformation of the system into an organization that has gotten much larger and become decentralized and focused on bringing care into communities across the state.
The ability to coordinate that care statewide is centered in Hartford, at HHC’s new Access Center at 100 Pearl St., a node for scheduling, imaging, electronic health records and other technology in one location with the goal of creating “an Amazon of health care.”
Flaks, who is a major Hartford cheerleader, oversees a statewide health system that recorded $4.3 billion in operating revenue in fiscal 2020, which represented just over one of every four operating dollars collected by all Connecticut health systems combined.
While he’s only been CEO for a few years, he played a key part in helping build-out the HHC system, climbing the ranks into bigger leadership roles, where he was groomed as a successor to former CEO Elliot Joseph.
HHC is the second-largest health system in Connecticut, behind Yale New Haven Health.
With its purchase of St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Bridgeport in 2019, HHC made a big play in Fairfield County, investing millions to renovate the aging facility.
However, Hartford HealthCare’s increasing size and market power have recently drawn the ire of a competitor and some consumers. In January St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center filed an antitrust lawsuit against Hartford HealthCare and its subsidiaries, claiming that HHC is trying to create a monopoly on hospital services by acquiring physician practices, particularly cardiologists, and demanding that they refer their patients only to Hartford HealthCare.
And in February, a group of Connecticut residents sued Hartford HealthCare, accusing it of driving up prices through anticompetitive practices.
Hartford HealthCare has said both lawsuits are without merit, but all eyes will be on how the legal proceedings play out in court.
Flaks also led Hartford HealthCare through the pandemic, battling everything from supply and workforce shortages, overcrowded emergency rooms and staff fatigue.
Bimal Patel leads Hartford HealthCare’s flagship Hartford Hospital and Hartford region. He’s also a senior vice president of the parent company and has risen through the care provider’s ranks over the years.
Patel was hired by Hartford Hospital in 2009 and was a project-management executive, playing a key role in developing a 20-year master plan and completing 400,000 square feet of upgrades to the hospital on time and on budget.
In 2014 he was appointed senior vice president for operational integration for Hartford HealthCare, put in charge of systemwide services, including pharmacy, lab, radiology, real estate, facilities and construction, and engineering, among other services. Patel last year led the debut of Hartford Hospital’s new Bliss wing, a 50,000-square-foot expansion on the care provider’s main campus that increases the intensive-care unit, operating room and other capacities.